Monday, June 13, 2011

Go-Go's Do E.T.

Go-Go's to Alien: "Feed Off Of Us!"

The Go-Go's sat down with Entertainment Tonight recently and discussed the 30th anniversary of Beauty And The Beat as well as their just launched Ladies Gone Wild tour in this all too brief clip.  Check it out:

.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Go-Go's Do Hollywood Heartbeat 1980

GIRLS GONE WILD 1980

With the recent release of the remastered Beauty And The Beat 30th anniversary edition and the kick-off of Ladies Gone Wild!, their first tour in nearly two years, the Go-Go's have been busier than they've been in years.  As they themselves allude to in the tongue in cheek name they gave for their summer tour, girls they ain't anymore and it's hard enough for a girl to weather the stress of life on the road, let alone a lady gone wild...  This was best illustrated this week when Belinda Carlisle's throat doctor ordered her to take a three-day vocal break, which resulted in the band postponing two shows on the east coast.  We send Belinda our best, and wish for a speedy recovery so the Ladies can get back to doing what they do best...no, not putting on red clown noses and simulating live birth with each other, but rocking, and rocking quite harder than I think they ever have if the recent Seeds-esque sounding performances of "We Got The Beat" are anything to go by.

On a related note, check out this early clip from 1980 of the band doing "We Got The Beat" on the TV show Hollywood Heartbeat back when they actually were girls and did all sorts of wild and naughty things for real.  Anyways, this was back in that almost mod period the band went through after their initial punk start when they were all about doing the cool jerk and the watusi and hanging out with the Specials and Madness and wearing headbands and day-glo colors rather than trash bags. It's probably the first television appearance the band ever made and certainly one of the few to feature original bassist Margot Olivarria.  Enjoy!

Saturday, June 4, 2011

The Go-Go's Do GMA (June 3, 2011)


LADIES GONE WILD 2011

The Go-Go's made an appearance on the June 3, 2011 episode of ABC TV's Good Morning America (see playlist above for all the related segments) as part of the show's 'Summer Concert Series' performing hits "Our Lips Are Sealed", "Vacation" and "We Got The Beat".  The band also gets briefly quizzed by GMA-anchor-with-a-porn-star name Robin Roberts about the 2011 Ladies Gone Wild! Tour and the 30th anniversary of the landmark album Beauty And The Beat, which has recently been remastered and re-released with extra tracks (Go here or here to purchase online.)

Friday, December 10, 2010

X - The New World (video re-creation)



I know it's been forever since i've posted...just been layin' low for the month of November.  But fear not...i do have a enormous amount of things i plan on posting soon in the days and weeks ahead as soon as I get my head out of my ass.  One thing I have decided is that I need to post more of the videos that i've been uploading to my various accounts on YouTube...I often forget to blog about them, but have decided to stop being so lazy about it and just at least embed the thing here for anyone who might enjoy them.

That brings us to X.   Dave Alvin of the Blasters once said that X was like having sex with someone who was really intelligent and also a great fuck.   I couldn't have said it better...I always feel like having a cigarette and drinking vodka after listening to X.

Anyways, some lame company that owns the rights to X's recordings from 1982-1986 (i'm looking at you, WMG), has decided to block or mute all videos featuring music from this time period from being available on YouTube, despite the fact that no official X channel exists where fans can view these classic clips. So...here's my attempt (the first of many) at slipping through a small loophole in the copyright policy towards this music, by presenting the official video clip for X's "The New World" (from the classic 1983 album More Fun In The New World) in a slightly edited form, re-synched to the demo recording of the song that is found on the out of print (and entirely excellent) 1997 2-disc compilation Beyond And Back: The X Anthology and for some reason is slightly less regulated than the main studio albums. And this is the first of several....stay tuned.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Go-Go's: Live @ The Whisky a Go-Go 8/17/80

 
GO-GO'S
Whisky a Go-Go
West Hollywood CA
August 17, 1980
Urgh! A Music War documentary filming

16 tracks total
(nearly complete set - track 15 is missing).
Sound quality: C
Artwork & upload by MaxPericles for SpinCycleMedia
(Thanks to the original tapers whoever they may be!)

File type:  FLAC (Lossless)
Download is in two parts 
(must download both parts to be able to extract files.)
size:   
part 1 = 194 MB 
part 2 = 126.17 M
319 MB overall
(RAR Archive)
NOTE: To play these files, you must have the FLAC codec installed on your computer.  For more info about the lossless FLAC format and to download the proper codec, please visit http://flac.sourceforge.net/ .  To extract the FLAC files from the archive, you must have the necessary software to do so; to download a quick, easy and free application that will do the trick for those with PC's, click here.



 
Tracklisting
01.  Beatnik Beach 
02.  How Much More 
 03.  Speeding 
 04.  Lust To Love 
05.  Tonite 
06.  Cool Jerk 
07.  Skidmarks On My Heart 
08.  You Can't Walk In Your Sleep 
09.  Surfing And Spying 
10.  (Remember) Walking In The Sand
 11.  We Got The Beat 
12.  London Boys 
13.  This Town 
14. Let's Have A Party 
15. (track missing)
16.  Automatic 
17.  He's So Strange 

One of the first shows played by the band after returning from a three-month long tour of the U.K.in mid-1980, and notable for being both the show where the Urgh! A Music War performance of the band was shot, as well as being singer Belinda Carlisle's 22nd birthday.

The sound quality on this one is in the fair to poor range...it's extremely rough with a lot of audience noise and talking heard throughout (about ten minutes in I wanted to punch the guy that kept shouting "Show us your tits!" between every song...give it up, man!)  The barely tolerable audio is more than made up for by the versions of two classic Go-Go's tracks: "Tonite" and "Automatic" here performed in extremely rough arrangements very different from their final recorded versions (This early version of "Tonite" even has a completely different chorus and chorus melody than the BATB version.)  If you enjoy examining the process of songcrafting, you'll dig these - think of them as missing links in the chain of their evolution!  Enjoy.
 
  
Oh yeah, and sorry - track 15 is missing and I don't know know where it went.  :( 

 
 



Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Go-Go's: Live @ The Whisky a Go-Go 3/15/80 (opening for Madness)

GO-GO'S
Whisky a Go-Go
West Hollywood CA

March 15, 1980
(opening for Madness)

7 tracks total
(incomplete set - first track cuts in).
Sound quality: B-
Artwork & upload by MaxPericles for SpinCycleMedia
(Thanks to the original tapers whoever they may be!)

File type:  FLAC (Lossless)
Size: 104.18 MB (RAR Archive)
NOTE: To play these files, you must have the FLAC codec installed on your computer.  For more info about the lossless FLAC format and to download the proper codec, please visit http://flac.sourceforge.net/ .  To extract the FLAC files from the archive, you must have the necessary software to do so; to download a quick, easy and free application that will do the trick for those with PC's, click here.


DOWNLOAD 
http://www.mediafire.com/?6de36y1jy1z3ptn
 
Tracklisting
01 Cool Jerk (cuts in)
02 Fashion Seekers
03 We Got The Beat
04  Johnny Are You Queer?
05 London Boys
06  Surfing And Spying
07  (Remember) Walking In The Sand


A historical show if there ever was one in the history of the Go-Go's, this one taking place in the spring of 1980 (March 15, to be exact) and recorded at the Whisky a Go-Go supporting British ska superstars Madness.  The boys in Madness were so impressed with the girls that following this show, they asked the band to support them on a tour of their native U.K.  The girls subsequently hocked everything they owned in order to afford airfare over there for the three-month long tour of duty.  Their Madness connections secured them a singles deal through the label Stiff Records, who released their demo versions of "We Got The Beat" b/w "How Much More" in May of 1980 for the girls to sell at shows.  While the single did little for their career abroad, import copies started setting dance floors on fire in the States, and the girls returned to the U.S. having an enormous underground dance hit.  And the rest is history as they say....  

The sound quality of the show is a bit rough but it gives a good representation of the pre-polished spunk of the band at the time.  Love the "Is HE really going out with him...?" intro to "Johnny Are You Queer?".  Set is incomplete and the first song cuts in. 
 
Photo credits: ? but many from the wonderful http://gogonotes.blogspot.com/,  and the now defunct PlanetGoGos site. Some most likely take by legendary punk photographer Jenny Lens (check out her site at http://jennylens.com/ ) or Theresa K. (http://punkturns30.blogspot.com/) - those two have taken so many pictures of pre-fame Go-Go's they should probably get a credit anytime a pre-1981 shot of them is included.  Currently, I can't find the exact credits for the above photos, but if you are a photographer and you find a photo on this blog that you have taken, please let me know and I would be more than happy to either credit you or remove the photo if that is your wish.   Heartfelt thanks to those mentioned above for making the researching and designing of this blog what it is - it couldn't have been done without them!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

VIDEO: Hole covers "Bad Romance"



Being no stranger to 'bad romance' herself, Courtney Love serves up an amusing cover of Lady Gaga's mega-hit along with the rest of Hole 2.0.

Monday, August 23, 2010

VIDEO: Go-Go's - The Way You Dance

GO-GO'S
"The Way You Dance"
(SpinCycleMedia Video Re-creation)


Technical stuff:
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media/Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 15.3 MiB
Duration : 3mn 16s
Overall bit rate : 655 Kbps

VIDEO
Format : AVC
Format profile : Baseline@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 539 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 1 608 Kbps
Width : 480 pixels
Height : 360 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.917 fps
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.104
Stream size : 12.6 MiB (82%)

AUDIO
Format : AAC
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 113 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 253 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Stream size : 2.66 MiB (17%)

(Basically, the file is an MP4 and you must have the necessary codecs on your computer to play.)

Recently, I was watching the video for the Go-Go's "Get Up And Go" - you know the one with the cheesy 1982 claymation in it - and had a good laugh at the scenes of the girls dancing with their claymation counterparts.   I enjoyed it so much, that i re-edited the dancing scenes together and looped it, and set it to the song "The Way You Dance" off of the Vacation album.   I get a good laugh at all the girls "dances" but i especially love the strange wonky dance that Gina does as well as the retarded enthusiasm Kathy seems to put into hers.   Those poor girls...looking back on this they must be mortified.  (But we still love you!)

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Go-Go's: Emerald City, Cherry Hill NJ 8/31/81

  
GO-GO'S
Emerald City
Cherry Hill, New Jersey (near Philadelphia)

August 31, 1981

17 tracks total.
Sound quality: A+
Artwork & upload by MaxPericles for SpinCycleMedia

Available in MP3 (192kbps) or FLAC (lossless)
MP3 file size: 79.16 MB RAR
FLAC file size: 195 MB and 161.14 MB (FLAC files come in two parts)
NOTE: You must have the necessary software to be able to open and extract files from the RAR archive format to access the individual music files. To download a quick, easy and free application that will do the trick, click here.


or

http://www.mediafire.com/?bws40vrhs1i74e2

Tracklisting
01 Skidmarks On My Heart
02 How Much More
03 Tonite
04 Fading Fast
05 London Boys
06 Cool Jerk
07 Automatic
08 Lust To Love
09 Can't Stop The World
10 This Town
11 Vacation
12 You Can't Walk In Your Sleep (If You Can't Sleep)
13 Our Lips Are Sealed
14 Let's Have A Party
15 We Got The Beat
16 Surfing And Spying
17 Beatnik Beach

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Johnette Napolitano: Sound Of A Woman (Unreleased Solo Album)

JOHNETTE NAPOLITANO
Sound Of A Woman
(Unreleased 1998 solo album)

File size: 112.28 MB (RAR Bundle) 
NOTE: You must have the necessary software to be able to open and extract files from the RAR archive format to access the individual music files. To download a quick, easy and free application (for PC's) that will do the trick, click here.

All music files are in the MP3 format with a bit rate of 320 kbps.

You must have necessary codec installed to play these files.


Tracklisting
01 I'm Your Queen
02 Sound Of A Woman
03 I Can Do Anything
04 Deliver
05 Something Fast
06 Todos Los Santos
07 Firefly
08 Human
09 Closer
10 Sleep
11 Lullabye For Fabiana

Here's the much fabled debut solo album by Concrete Blonde singer Johnette Napolitano that was supposed to have been released in 1998, but never saw the light of day.  It remains unreleased to this day.  Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

that dog. - retreat from the sun (GBG deluxe edition)

THAT DOG
retreat from the sun
(GBG deluxe edition)
Original release: DGC/Geffen Records (1997)
  • 13 original album tracks
  • 25 (!) bonus tracks
  • 7 bonus videos
  • image gallery 
  • additional multimedia
File size:  
part 1: 137.25 MB (RAR bundle): music files, image gallery, additional multimedia
part 2: 125.64 MB (RAR bundle): video files
NOTE: You must have the necessary software to be able to open and extract files from the RAR archive format to access the individual music files. To download a quick, easy and free application that will do the trick, click here.

All music files are in the MP3 format with a bit rate of 128 kbps.
Videos are in the MP4 format.
You must have necessary codecs installed to play these files.
http://www.mediafire.com/?p86vp5nyghbx2kc

PART TWO
http://www.mediafire.com/?dixt70p4y5v8zde 


tracklisting
01 i'm gonna see you
02 never say never
03 being with you
04 gagged and tied
05 retreat from the sun
06 minneapolis
07 annie
08 every time i try
09 long island
10 hawthorne
11 did you ever
12 cowboy hat
13 until the day i die

non-lp bonus tracks
14 fuck you  
15 little miss riding hood 
 16 gagged and tied (alternate mix) 
  
kcrw morning becomes eclectic interview and performance with chris douridas 1997:
17 never say never 
 18 kcrw interview (part 1) 
19 retreat from the sun  
20 kcrw interview (part 2) 
21 i'm gonna see you
22 kcrw interview (part 3) 
 23 being with you
 
k-rock 92.3 new york interview and performance with jake fogelnest:
 24 k-rock interview (part 1) 
25 never say never
 26 k-rock interview (part 2)  
27 being with you
  
28 hawthorne (live at spaceland) 

the go-go's featuring anna waronker:
29 head over heels (live at the petra haden benefit)
  
ze malibu kids (featuring anna waronker lead vocals):
30 you're so vain
31 sleep therapy (from the film sugar town)
32  shelly fabares 
33  don't go
34  i won't forget you
35 my christmas was in june 


rachel haden solo
37 poems, prayers, and promises 

 
petra haden solo
38 god only knows


38 ordinary girl 
(theme to the television show 'clueless')
written by anna waronker/charlotte caffey
 performed by china forbes
 
bonus videos
never say never (promo video)
mtv's 120 minutes interview (with matt pinfield)
much music interview (segment #1)
much music interview (segment #2)
mtv's house of style (with pat smear)
never say never  (oddville mtv performance)
fuck you  (spincyclemedia video recreation)



The third feature in a series of 4 by the Los Angeles based group that dog, and another in my line of 'albums that should get the bonus track and extras laden deluxe edition treatment but probably never will so I did it myself anyways' series, I give you Retreat From The Sun (GBG Deluxe Edition).

In 1997, that dog returned for their third album, Retreat From The Sun, a pop masterpiece of epic proportions, and while the band's name is still not capitalized on the cover, the band itself is all grown up. The backstory: Retreat From The Sun began life as a proposed solo album for lead singer/primary songwriter Anna Waronker. After the relative disappointment of the performance of 1995's Totally Crushed Out! and the exhaustion that came with the promotion and touring for that record, Waronker was ready to take a small break from the band, and the fruits of her most recent songwriting sessions had been sounding much more pop-oriented than what that dog had been known for. It was Luke Wood, her A&R rep at Geffen Records, who convinced her to try recording the material with the band instead. While initially bashful at showing the rest of the group songs that to her, sounded like 'show tunes', she found that they were incredibly enthusiastic in proceeding in this new direction. Additionally, an outside producer, Brad Wood (who had produced records by Liz Phair and Ben Lee) was brought in to co-produce the entire record with band. With the exception of a couple of tracks off their second album Totally Crushed Out!, this was a first for the group, who in the past had done most of their recording with Tom Grimley at Poop Alley.

The mixture of Waronker's finely crafted songs with Brad Wood's polished sheen yielded what is certainly the most cohesive album of that dog's career.  The album gently begins with "I'm Gonna See You", a 'love letter to the band' according to Waronker, that touches on the touring life and leaving loved ones behind for the duration. Next up is "Never Say Never": a shimmering combo of synthey new wave chords and crunchy guitar sounds propelled forward by a hook that wont stop, a violin solo way cooler than any guitar part could ever be, and guest synthesizer courtesy of singer Anna Waronker's future sister-in-law, Charlotte Caffey of the Go-Go's. "Gagged and Tied" is a sexy collaboration with S&M overtones between Waronker's then-boyfriend, future husband and Redd Kross bassist Steven McDonald, who wrote the lyrics to a full-band composed tune. Pillow talk, but this ain't your Rock and Doris kind. Title track and album centerpiece "Retreat From The Sun" is propelled forward by doot-doots, surf guitar, hand claps and lalalalalas brilliantly masking the lyrical content which appears to be about extreme depression. Fan favorite tune "Minneapolis" contains the quintessential girl in band-likes-boy in band rhyming couplet: "So we'd said we'd write or call, cuz i'll be touring in the fall..." and could very well have fit nicely on previous concept album Totally Crushed Out! due to it's subject matter. Charlotte Caffey makes another guest appearance here, this time playing guitar. (For those curious about the song and some names mentioned: 'The Jabberjaw' is the name of the tiny coffeehouse all-ages venue where that dog played their very first show and the Randy mentioned in the song is none other than Randy Kaye, long-time L.A. punk rock scenester, A&R rep for Slash/Warner Bros. Records and habitual Jabberjaw regular.  (Rest in piece, Randy.  You are missed!) "Long Island" also could have thematically fit on Totally Crushed Out! and in fact was actually titled "Totally Crushed Out!" before being changed at the last minute to avoid confusion.

Three Non-LP studio outtakes from the sessions with Brad Wood are included here as bonus tracks: "Fuck You", from the Japanese edition of Retreat which pears to be a 'fuck you' (both figuratively and literally) to DGC, their record label at the time (making it no surprise as to why it wasn't made more widely available); "Little Miss Riding Hood", a b-side from the "Never Say Never" promo single; and an unreleased alternate 'violin' mix of "Gagged and Tied", which got shelved in favor of the album version.

Tracks 17-23 come from an appearance the band made on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic on April 8, 1997. While the interview segments are a bit rushed, host Chris Douridas is charming as ever and playfully interviews the band between songs in their on air set which includes "Never Say Never", "Retreat From The Sun", "I'm Gonna See You" and "Being With You". Following that (tracks 24-27) the band is interviewed on WXRK 92.3 FM New York (or K-ROCK as they were known) by SquirtTV star Jake Fogelnest, and the band performs "Never Say Never" and "Being With You", while a rendition of the song "Hawthorne", written by Waronker after visiting the hometown of beau Steve McDonald, and recorded live at Spaceland in Silverlake on December 23, 1996, follows.

While the decision to record the songs originally conceived of as a solo effort at first appeared amicable amongst the band members, it ultimately made everyone unhappy, and greatly added to the inner turmoil the band had already been experiencing. In late 1997, after the promotional and touring duties for Retreat had been completed, singer Anna Waronker called the other members from Europe (where she was traveling with boyfriend Steve McDonald) and anounced she was leaving the group, putting that dog to sleep for good. Waronker would, however, remain on good terms with most of her former bandmates, even performing at a benefit for Petra Haden in late 2000, joining a Belinda Carlisle-less Go-Go's on stage for a rendition of their hit "Head Over Heels" (track #29). (The insurance-less Haden had been hit by a car earlier in the year, and the benefit was to raise money for Petra's medical and rehabilitation fees incurred.)

The first post-That Dog Waronker songs that would make their way to consumer ears would be as part of the supergroup Ze Malibu Kids which consisted of Waronker, her husband Steve McDonald and his brother Jeff (both from the band Redd Kross), as well as Astrid McDonald, Jeff's ten-year old daughter with the Go-Go's Charlotte Caffey. Although originally credited to just Anna Waronker, the first taste of Ze Malibu Kids came in the form of a cover of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" in 1998 via a Scandinavian Polygram Music Publishing compilation called Chartbusters: 20-I-Toppar, which featured contemporary artists and their renditions of classic from the Polygram Music Publishing catalog. The following year, the Jeff McDonald-penned "Sleep Therapy" featuring vocals by Waronker found it's way into the Allison Anders film Sugar Town (which also featured a small acting part by McDonald). Not counting a free download release of the Waronker sung "My Christmas Was In June" via Redd Kross's official website just prior, The first official release as Ze Malibu Kids was the double A-sided single "I Won't Forget You"/"Your Bed" in 2001. A full-length album Sound It Out followed in 2002 which included both A-sides of the single; the previously mentioned "You're So Vain" and "Sleep Therapy"; as well as new Waronker-penned and sung songs "Shelly Fabares" and "Don't Go". In 2002, Waronker issued her debut solo album Anna By Anna Waronker on her and Charlotte Caffey's own label Five Foot Two Records and her long-delayed second solo offering California Fade is finally set for release later in 2010. She (along with frequent collaborator Caffey) composed the music for Lovelace: A Rock Opera, a musical based on the life of porn star Linda 'Deep Throat' Lovelace, and has become in high demand for her work in writing and composing music for television and films, a field that that dog drummer Tony Maxwell has also seen some success in, working as a composer/music consultant for the films Star Maps (1997), Chuck & Buck (2000) and The Good Girl (2002).

Following the demise of That Dog, bassist Rachel Haden focused on performing with other artists including The Martinis, Jimmy Eat World, The Rentals and Todd Rundgren, and appeared on recordings by Ozma, Dntel, Lucky Pierre, Fightstar, Neil Hamburger and Asian Kung-Fu Generation. As a solo artist, she contributed a strikingly beautiful cover of "Poems, Prayers and Promises" to Take Me Home: A Tribute To John Denver on Badman Recordings in 1999 and continues to work on a collection of solo demos. Currently, she is playing bass and singing back-up vocals for long-time inspiration and Dead Can Dance member Brendan Perry on his 2010 Ark tour.

Meanwhile, Petra Haden (here represented with her solo acapella rendition of the Beach Boys classic "God Only Knows"), probably the most prolific of former That Dog members, has not only appeared on recordings by The Twilight Singers, Beck, Mike Watt, Luscious Jackson, Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Queens of the Stone Age, Weezer, Victoria Williams, Tegan & Sara, Yuka Honda and The Gutter Twins, but has also released 2 solo albums (Imaginaryland in 1999 and Petra Haden Sings The Who Sell Out in 2005), 2 albums with Miss Murgatroid (Bella Neurox in 1999 and Hearts & Daggers in 2008), a collaboration with Bill Frisell (Petra Haden & Bill Frisell, 2003) and a collaboration with Woody Jackson (Ten Years, 2008). She is currently working as vocal coach/arranger for the upcoming NBC acapella reality tv show, Sing Off, scheduled to air in December.

As a bonus, i've included "Ordinary Girl", the theme to the television series Clueless and an early collaboration between Waronker and Charlotte Caffey. Here it is performed by China Forbes (in an extended arrangement from the original single release), but it very well could have been performed by that dog. When the song had been accepted as the theme to the show, Paramount executives offered Waronker the chance to record the song with her band. Waronker declined the offer, but a quick listen to the song and one can imagine the band performing it.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Bangles: Live In Glasgow 3/01/86

BANGLES
QM Union
Glasgow, Scotland
U.K.
March 1, 1986

16 tracks total.
Sound quality: A
Artwork & upload by MaxPericles for SpinCycleMedia

File size: 121.8 MB (RAR bundle)
LOSSY
Format: MP3
Bit rate : 320 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
NOTE: You must have the necessary software to be able to open and extract files from the RAR archive format to access the individual music files. To download a quick, easy and free application that will do the trick, click here.


Tracklisting:
01 In A Different Light
02 Live
03 Restless
04 Walking Down Your Street
05 James
06 September Gurls
07 Not Like You
08 Manic Monday
09 He's Got A Secret 
10 If She Knew What She Wants
11 Return Post
12 Let It Go
13 Going Down To Liverpool
14 Angels Don't Fall In Love
15 I'm Not Talking
16 Hero Takes A Fall

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Go-Go's: Peppermint Lounge 1981

GO-GO'S
Peppermint Lounge
New York,  July 1981

14 tracks total.
Sound quality: B
Artwork & upload by MaxPericles for SpinCycleMedia

File size: 87.62 MB (RAR bundle)
LOSSY
Format: MP3
Bit rate : 320 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
NOTE: You must have the necessary software to be able to open and extract files from the RAR archive format to access the individual music files. To download a quick, easy and free application that will do the trick, click here.

01  Beatnik Beach
02  How Much More

 03  Our Lips Are Sealed
04  He's So Strange
05  Can't Stop The World
06  You Can't Walk In Your Sleep
07  Cool Jerk
08  Lust To Love
09  Surfing And Spying
10  (Remember) Walking In The Sand
11  Skidmarks On My Heart
12  We Got The Beat
13  This Town
14  Let's Have A Party

The Go-Go's play New York's famed Peppermint Lounge in July of 1981.  This is a great place to start for those interested in hearing the 1981 Beautify America Tour story, as it captures the band less polished and pre-fame in an intimate venue only a month or so away from becoming stars.  Dig in.
 

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

that dog. - totally crushed out! (GBG deluxe edition)

THAT DOG
totally crushed out.
(GBG deluxe edition)
Original release: DGC/Geffen Records (1995)
  • 13 original album tracks
  • 16 bonus tracks
  • 4 bonus videos
  • image gallery 
  • additional multimedia

File size: 196.48 MB (RAR bundle)
NOTE: You must have the necessary software to be able to open and extract files from the RAR archive format to access the individual music files. To download a quick, easy and free application that will do the trick, click here.

All music files are in the MP3 format, most encoded at 192kbps.
Videos are in the MP4 format.
You must have necessary codecs installed to play these files.

tracklisting
01 ms. wrong
02 silently
03 in the back of my mind
04 he's kissing christian
05 anymore
06 to keep me
07 lip gloss
08 she doesn't know how
09 holidays
10 side part
11 one summer night
12 michael jordan
13 rockstar
featuring special guest beck on banjo
19 one summer night 
(alternate version)
20 laverne & shirley theme 
(live in milwaukee 1996)
21 you'll do it again
 
(live in milwaukee 1996)
22 adam in june
performed by june blake
23 steve threw up  
performed by beck with members of that dog.
24 piss-bottle man 
performed by mike watt with evan dando and members of that dog.
25 i just threw out the love of my dreams
performed by weezer (featuring rachel haden)
26 friends of p.
performed by the rentals (featuring petra haden)
27 move on
performed by the rentals (featuring petra haden and rachel haden)
28 waiting
performed by the rentals (featuring petra haden)
29 totally crushed out!
(later titled 'long island')

bonus videos
he's kissing christian (promo video)
ms. wrong (spincyclemedia photoshow)
friends of p. (promo video)
waiting (promo video)

we hope you enjoy some highlights of this fine compilation below.  
however, when you're done, don't forget to scroll down for more info on the songs you have heard.  thanks
 
The second in a four-part that dog. series:  I present you with that dog's second album Totally Crushed Out!, given ye olde GBG (GrrlBandGeek) Deluxe Edition treatment - 13 original album tracks, 16 bonus tracks, 4 videos, loads of high quality album artwork scans, band photos, magazine articles, and much much more.  (Well, not really much more than that, but I think that should be enough to entice the canine lovers among you.)

Let's get right into it:  the original release of that dog.'s second album Totally Crushed Out! dropped on July 18, 1995 on Geffen Records and was a somewhat schizophonic affair being stuck somewhere between the neo twee-punk sound of their debut and the uber-polished power pop of their third, and final album, 1997's Retreat From The Sun.  While some numbers such as "Anymore" and "Side Part" certainly evoke the quiet simplicity of their debut release, they fall short of those songs quality, leaving the impression that some of Totally Crushed Out! is comprised of cast-offs from the first album sessions.  Of these type songs, only "Holidays" and the haunting "She Doesn't Know How" are worthy successors to the bands earlier work.

Luckily for the listener, the band decided to move beyond their comfort zone on TCO! which result in the treasures of this release.  The youthful punk rock zest only glimpsed in previous songs like "Old Timer" are given full reign in songs like "Lip Gloss" and "One Summer Night", two key tracks which pump some  much-needed life into this release right when needed most.  And then anchoring the album are three of the band's finest songs:  the one-two punch of should-of been a single album opener "Ms. Wrong" and "Silently" and first single "He's Kissing Christian".  It's interesting to note that these three songs are the first attempt by the band to work with a larger, more established producer (in the case of "Ms. Wrong" and "He's Kissing Christian", it was red-hot at-the-time Green Day producer Rob Cavallo) and their experimentation fully pays off yelding something that would go on to form the template sound of their third album Retreat From The Sun.

Onward to the bonus tracks:  First up is "Ridiculous", the shortest song in that dog's repertoire clocking in at one minute and seven seconds from the now ultra-rare 1995 WIN Records compilation album The Poop Alley Tapes: A Compilation of 31 Los Angeles Bands.  Poop Alley was an integral part of the early that dog sound, as most of those recordings were made at the studio with Waldo The Dog Faced Boy member/Poop Alley owner Tom Grimley behind the console.  "Explain" was recorded in late 1994 for the Jabberjaw - Good To The Last Drop benefit compilation on Mammoth Records when original selection for that release ("This Boy") had been tacked onto the end of that dog's debut album at the last minute instead.  (Jabberjaw was a coffee-house/art gallery/all ages venue in Los Angeles where that dog played their very first show - the compilation was produced to raise money to assist the club with their expenses to stay open - unfortunately the club closed it's doors in 1997.)  "Explain" is also one of only a few that dog songs that singer Anna Waronker does not sing lead on - here violinist Petra Haden takes center stage for a change.

In 1994 original Germs guitarist and Nirvana/Foo Fighters member Pat Smear befriended That Dog after seeing them open for Beck at the Troubadour.  So enamored of singer Anna Waronker's songwriting ability and craftsmanship he asked her to produce his next solo album.  With the rest of that dog backing him up, Pat and company (or 'Pat Dog', as they semi-jokingly called the band) recorded six songs which for whatever reason were shelved and still have not surfaced to this day. Most likely, "We Must Bleed", from the Germs tribute compilation Lion's Share: A Small Circle Of Friends date from around this time if not these sessions.  That Dog perform the song to the tune of their own "Old Timer", whose chorus melody does bear a striking similarity to the original Germs track. 

"Midnight At The Oasis" was a cover of the 1974 Maria Muldaur hit, taken from the 1995 benefit compilation album Spirit of '73: Rock For Choice. Spirit of '73: Rock For Choice was put together by the activist group Feminist Majority with proceeds going to support the Becky Bell/Rosie Jimenez Campaign "to lift consent laws and federal funding restrictions that are forcing young women to turn to back-alley abortions". The compilation's title is inspired by the Janu+ry 22, 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States and the songs included are all contemporary artists of 1995 covering songs that were popular in the early 1970s.  The band also had a more personal reason for covering the song:  singer Anna Waronker's father Lenny Waronker had produced the original, so this in a way was a tribute to her Dad.

Good band-friend Beck plays banjo on the acoustic version of "Silently" included here, a song that was released as a b-side to the promo single of "Never Say Never" in 1997.  An uncredited Beck actually wrote the banjo part he plays in this song, which would later be 'sung' live and on the album version by violinist Petra Haden, an expert at mimicking the sound of certain instruments with only her voice. (Originally the track was to be published as a Beck Hansen/Anna Waronker co-write, but Beck declined credit on the tune, possibly as a gift to his longtime friends and sometimes back-up band.)  That Dog returned the favor on "Steve Threw Up",  a Beck single released via Bong Load Custom Records in 1994 that featured Anna on bass, Rachel on drums and Petra on fiddle on vocals.

TCO!'s song "One Summer Night" bears the distinction of having been recorded and released in some manner three different times, more than any other that dog song.  The first time it was recorded  was for the John Peel Show on BBC Radio in January of 1993 (aired: December 1993 - and can be found on the deluxe edition of that dog.'s debut album here), while the second version (which is denoted here as the 'Alternate Version') was recorded with Tom Grimley at Poop Alley Studios in late 1993 specifically for Volume 9, a periodically released U.K. magazine/compilation CD.  This version bears a different  arrangement than the first or third/album version of the track (also included here), instead employing a more dancey drum beat and bass sound, with some nice breaks that bring out the charm of the song.  Fun fact: future SNL star and longtime band friend Maya Rudolph can be heard as one of the talking voices amidst the din heard towards the end of the song.

If you missed that dog live during their heyday, here's your chance to experience some of the joy:  two songs recorded on March 28, 1996 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Perhaps inspired by the city in which they were playing, the band does a wacky cover of  the theme to the Milwaukee-situated TV show Laverne & Shirley complete with the opening American-Yiddish hopscotch chant "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!"  ("Schlimazel...what the hell does that mean?" Waronker asks the audience). "You'll Do It Again" - a rare unrecorded original That Dog song follows.

Rounding out the GBG deluxe edition bonus tracks, are some examples of That Dog members moonlighting: Anna Waronker tests the water as a solo artist under the pseudonym of June Blake on the song "Adam In June", also featured on The Poop Alley Tapes compilation from 1995.  (The song is featured here in an edited form.)  The band backs up Beck on the aforementioned "Steve Threw Up"; Anna, Rachel and Petra sing back-up vocals on Mike Watt's "Piss-Bottle Man"  (also featuring lead vocals by Lemonheads singer Evan Dando); Rachel performs guest lead vocals on the Weezer Pinkerton-era b-side "I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams" and both Petra and Rachel contribute to Weezer bassist Matt Sharp's side project The Rentals' album Return Of The Rentals, here represented by Petra's appearance on violin and vocals on the singles "Friends of P." and "Waiting", and Rachel's harmony vocals on the album track "Move On".  (Also included in this package are the two Rentals promotional videos for "Friends Of P" and "Waiting" which both feature Petra prominently - the latter even including an extended stunt bike scene by Petra's character before she bursts into the studio to perform her violin solo and a cameo by Rachel as a production assistant at the beginning of the clip.  Great stuff!)

And the final bonus track for this set is, strangely enough, a song from the next that dog album 1997's Retreat From The Sun.  While the band was finishing up their second album, a popular phrase amongst the band was 'Totally Crushed Out!' due to rampant discussion about crushes that they all had on various people.  Inspired, singer Anna Waronker wrote a song called "Totally Crushed Out!", which the band quickly decided would also make a great album title as well.  The problem?  Well, the song was written too late to be recorded for the release, as all final tracking sessions for the album had been completed.  Undeterred, the band decided to move forward with naming the album Totally Crushed Out!, figuring they would be in good company with bands like The Doors, Led Zeppelin and Queen, who all had albums named for songs that would appear on a later album (Waiting For The Sun, Houses Of The Holy and Sheer Heart Attack, respectively).  It wasn't until after the song had been recorded for their next album Retreat From The Sun, that the band decided to change the official title of the song to "Long Island" at the last minute to avoid any confusion.  Fun facts!

Next up:  that dog decides to Retreat From The Sun ...